Cable railway



(No Model.)

G. C. WATRISS & G. J. KAIGHIN. CABLE RAILWAY.

No. 446,905. Patented Feb.24, 1891.

. f Imnnimluull la z ff W 4?/7 PSSPS I/zaz UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIC.

GEORGE C. WATRISS AND CHARLES J. KAIGHIN, OF SAN FRANCISCO,

CALIFORNIA.

CABLE RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,905, dated February 24, 1891.

Application tiledSeptember 26, 1889. Serial No. 325,191. (No model.)

To all whont it muy concern:

Be it known that We, GEORGE C. WATRISS and CHARLES J. KAIGHIN, both of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cable Railways, of which the following is a specification.-

The invention relates to a safety-stop or bumper placed in the subway to arrest the momentum of the car when from any cause the cable is held in the grip beyond the point where the grip should have released it-as, for instance, at a cable-crossing or else at the end of aline Where the cable makes the turn back-aud the gripman should release it from the grip a short distance before the terminus is reached, to prevent the grip running against the end of the slot.

The invention consists in the combination of certain parts constituting a bumper, which may be operated by compressed air or other elastic iiuid, and which will effect a gradual absorption of the momentum and finally arrest entirely the motion of the car without either disastrous shock or recoil.

The bumpers heretofore in use, so far as known to us, arrested the motion of the car with a suddenness which invariably caused damage to both the grip and car, and sometimes injury to passengers, and those Yprovided with springs, so as to partially prevent sudden shocks, were objectionable on account of the recoil. Thepreseut invention obviates these difficulties and provides for so gradual and gentle a stoppage of the car as is entirely without unpleasant or disastrous results.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure l is 'a side elevation of our device; Fig. 2, a sectional plan, part being broken away; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the cylinder, hereinafter referred to; and Fig. 4, a perspective view of the end of the bumper or piston-rod.

In all the figures the same letters of reference are used to indicate the saine parts.

A A are the lines marking the edge of the slot-iron andl surface of the road-bed.

B is a portion of a grip, known as the side grip.7 (Shown in.dotted lines.)

C represents the cable. (Shown in full lines in its normal position, and in dottted lines when in the position in which it brings our device into operation.)

D D are the cable-carrying pulleys.

E is a line corresponding to the bottom of the cable tunnel or subway.

F indicates our bumper-cylinder, somewhat similar to the cylinder of a pump or steamengine, but of Variable diameter and length, according to circumstances. It is provided with a piston G and piston-rod G', the outer end of this rod being fashioned to form a frame within which is mounted a wheel or roller H, which is suspended within an inch or so of the cable in its normal position. The extreme outer end of the piston G, beyond the roller-frame just referred to, is formed into a fork or concavity g, designed to receive the impact of the grip, as will be explained farther on. In front the cylinder is provided With a loosely-packed stuffing-box f, and at the rear there is a stout head j", which has a couple of lugs f2, carrying a transverse spindlefs, which rests its ends in the props or brackets II. Thus the rear end of the cylinder is supported on a horizontal pivot, and the front end may swing up and down, carrying the piston-rod with it.

In the center of the back head there may be provided, though the apparatus 'gis effect- :ive Without it, an inwardly-opening valve J,

which has a spiral spring] coiled around the end of its stem, which projects through the head, as shown. Behind this spring is a nut or collar j so that the expansion of the spring holds the face of the valve on its seat. The valve falls from its seat when a vacuu m is created in the cylinder, causedby the piston moving forward.

K is a cock, which is permanently left slightly open to allow a small quantity of air to be expressed through it.

L is a counter-weight attached bya cord M,

running over pulley N to the end of the piston-rod. This counter-weight draws back the piston and rod to their normal position after each operation.

It is not necessary to rest the roller at the end of the piston-rod upon the cable when the device is not in operation, and it would be better to so support it as to keep the roller from touching the cable, except when brought into action.

Bars O O', projecting inwardly from the sides of the tunnel to points on each side of the cylinder, may be provided to hold up the latter at just the height necessary to keep the roller above and free from contact with the running cable.

The operation is as follows: When the ear passes the point where the cable should be released from the grip and the gripman has tailed to let go]7 the grip proceeds with the cable retained between its jaws and lifts it to the position shown by dotted lines. As the piston-rod rests its end immediately above the cable, it is raised with it into the path ot' the grip, which, striking into the fork or concavity at the end of G as it advances, pushes `both rod and piston back into the cylinder.

This compresses the air behind the piston and causes a gradually-increasing resistance sufficient to slow down the car. Finally, as the piston passes to near the end of the cylinder it covers the passage leading through the cock, and no more air being allowed to `pass out that remaining is further compressed until it resists enough to overcome the friction of the jaws of the grip upon the cable, when the latter draws through the jaws without injurious results to either passengers or the car. As soon as the gripman opens the grip after the above operation the cable can be thrown out to the carrying-pulleys, and then the counter-weight, which has been lifted with the piston-rod, gradually falls and draws the piston and rod forward again, This would create a partial vacuum behind the piston if the passage through the cock should be obstructed, and the piston could not be drawn back promptly. Hence the valt'e is supplied at the back end of the cylinder to admit air freely as thc piston draws back. \Vhen the parts resume their normal position, everything is below the grip-path and no obstruction is offered to its passage.

The full advantage of the principle of our invention may be obtained without following precisely the above details of construction. In fact, it is not feasible in many cases to arrange the parts as herein set forth-as for instance, there may not be room enough to locate the cylinder above the cable between it and the surface of the road-bed, and it may have to be set up in some other location. Two or more cylinders may also be used in lieu of one. These and other changes would simply involve a rearrangement of the parts, the function of each element being performed exactly as before, though their exact relation might be altered to suit the exigencies of cach case. Therefore we wish it to be understood that the main feature of our invention is the adaptation of an elastic fluidcompressing cylinder as a bulnper, which is brought into play by the action of the grip upon the cable, the intermediate mechanism to effect the purpose being a mattei' subject to modification and change, accordingly as the requirements of each case demand.

Sometimes the grip raises the cable, as in the present insta-nee; at others the action is to set it aside, and there are cases that our device can be arranged to provide for, where the grip depresses the cable if it holds on beyond the let-go point.

Our invention is adaptable for use in connection with a side grip, a bottom grip, or any other kind. In each case the mechanism is simply rearranged to suit.

Having described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. In a cable railway, the combination ot' a traction-cable, a grip therefor, and a pivot ally-mounted bumper for said grip, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, and a pivotally-mounted elastic bumper for said grip, substantially as set forth.

In a cable railway, the combination of a subway, a traction-oable therein, a cable-carrying grip, and a safetybumper pivotally mounted in said subway and adapted to stop said grip, substantially as set forth.

i. In a cable railway, the combination of a subway, a traction-cable therein, a cablecarrying grip, and an elastic grip-stopping mechanism pivotally mounted in said subway, substantially as set forth.

5. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, a pivotallymounted cylinder containing an elastic medium, and a compressing-piston adapted to stop said grip by the resistance of said medium, substantially as set forth.

t5. In a cable railway, the combination of a tractioncable, a grip therefor, a pivotallymounted air-cylinder, and a compressing-piston adapted to stop said grip by the resistance of the air within said cylinder, substantially as set forth.

7. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, a pivotallymounted air-cylinder, a piston adapted to stop said grip in compressing the air within said cylinder, and means to return said piston, substantially as set forth.

8. In a cable railway, the combination of a subway, a traction-cable therein, a cable-earrying grip, an air-cylinder pivotally mounted in said subway, a piston adapted to stop said grip in compressing the air within said cylinder, and a weight to withdraw said piston, substantially as set forth.

9. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-eable, a grip therefor, a pivotallymounted air-cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a loosely-packed stuffing-box at the free end of the same, and a piston-rod fitted in said box and adapted to stop said grip in compressing the air behind said piston, substantially as set forth.

ICO

IIO

1,0. Ina cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, an air-cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, and a pistonrod provided with a forked or concaved end adapted to encounter and arrest said grip, substantially as set forth.

ll. In acable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a cable-carrying grip, an aircylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a pistonrod, a frame integral with the outer end of said rod, and a roller Within said frame to prevent friction between said rod and cable, substantially as and for the purpose described.

l2. In a cable railway, the combination'of a traction cable, ar grip therefor, a pivotallymounted safety-bumper for said grip, and means to normally keep said bumper out of contact with said cable, substantially as set forth.

13. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, a pivotallymounted air-cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a piston-rod adapted to stop said grip by working said piston, and means to normally keep said rod out of contact with said cable, substantially as set. forth. n

14. In a cable railway, the combination of a subway, a traction-cable therein, a cable-carrying grip, a pivotally-Inounted air-cylinder fitted as a safety-bumper for said grip, and bars across said subway adapted to normally keep said bumper out of contact with said cable, substantially as set forth.

l5. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, an air-cylinder provided with a passage serving as an air inlet and outlet, a cock to control said passage, and a piston adapted to stop said grip by compressing the air within said cylinder, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

1G. In acable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, an air-cylinder, a piston adapted to stop said grip by compressing the air in said cylinder, a Weight to Withdraw said piston, and a spring-actuated Valve to let air into said cylinder upon the return of said piston,su'bstantially as set forth.

17. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, an air-cylinder provided with a passage serving as an air inlet and outlet, a piston adapted to stop said grip by compressing the air Within said cylinder, means to `Withdrawr said piston, and an inwardly-opening valve to supplement said passage, substantially as set forth.

18. In a cable railway, the combination of a traction-cable, a grip therefor, an air-cylinder adapted as a safety-bumper for said grip, lugs at the rear end of said cylinder, a transverse spindle engaging said lugs, and a support for said spindle, substantially as described.

GEORGE C. NVATRISS. [L. s] CHARLES J. KAIGHIN. [14. s] Vitnesses:

.IULIUs H. SMITH, Gao. H. FERGUSON. 

